Captain McCluskey
Mark McCluskey is a fictional character from the novel and movie series The Godfather, where he was a corrupt Irish-American police captain in the service of the Tattaglia family and Virgil Sollozzo but he ostensibly worked for the Police Chief. Biography Mark McCluskey's father was also a police captain who took his son on visits around the district, where he would be given gifts of cash by the shopkeepers, who were under his father's protection. It was then that his son decided to follow in his father's footsteps. McCluskey served 20 years on the force. At first he was an honest and tough cop. However, while he was still a patrolman, he became easily susceptible to bribes in order to supplement his salary, particularly once he needed to support his four sons. Even when he rose to captain, he only took home $100 a week. He was also good friends with Bruno Tattaglia, who had gone to Fordham with one of McCluskey's four sons. McCluskey would clear the records of Bruno's employees in return for large cash rewards, and free trips to Bruno's nightclub. This friendship led to McCluskey meeting Virgil Sollozzo. Under the pretext of cultivating Sollozzo as an informer, he agreed to become the drug dealer's bodyguard, the money paying for the funeral of his sister-in-law back in Ireland. McCluskey and Sollozzo McCluskey assisted Sollozzo by removing the guards from Vito Corleone's hospital room and throwing them in jail, so that Sollozzo and his men would have a clear shot on the wounded Don. However, the Don's youngest son, Michael happened to visit that evening and noticed the lack of guards. Michael called his brother Sonny about the problem and moved Vito to a different hospital room. Once outside, he managed to scare off Sollozzo and his men with the help of Enzo Aguello, which caused Sollozzo to call McCluskey. Michael questioned McCluskey as to how much he was being paid by Sollozzo, which resulted in the police captain breaking Michael's jaw. Before he could harm him further, the Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen arrived with men licensed to carry firearms in order to protect the Don. Hagen also told McCluskey that if he interfered, he'd have to explain his actions before a judge. McCluskey backed down and disappeared into the night. Murder Sollozzo called Sonny and asked Michael to be sent to hear a proposition which would settle the business. Hagen had learned via the family's contacts on the force that McCluskey was not only on Sollozzo's payroll, but serving as his bodyguard. In Hagen's view, Sollozzo was practically invincible as long as he is being guarded by McCluskey; it has long been a hard and fast rule in the American Mafia that policemen are not to be harmed. To add to it, all the protection from the judges and other higher ups would be gone. Michael then made a shocking proposal--he'd kill both Sollozzo and McCluskey. Sonny joked that he was sensitive due to having his jaw broken and that he didn't understand what would be involved since he had only shot people from far away while in the Army. But Michael appealed to Tom that since McCluskey was dirty, that after the job was done that they could have their newspaper contacts revealing his corruption. In the car on the way to Louis Restaurant, McCluskey frisked Michael before apologising for his crankiness the other night. While at dinner, Michael asked for permission before going to the bathroom, which Clemenza told him to do so Sollozo would think he was subservient to him. Even so, Sollozo stopped him to frisk him. McCluskey then spoke up to remind him that he had already frisked him in the car and that he was clean. However, one of Peter Clemenza's men planted a gun behind the old school toilet in the lavatory. Michael retrieved it, and returned as if nothing was amiss. He then rose up and shot Sollozzo in the head, then shot McCluskey once in the throat and once in the head. Sollozo died instantly; McCluskey pitched forward onto the table, breaking it in half. While Sollozo died on his seat, McCluskey died on the ground Category:Tattaglias